How to change form radios to text links

raustin

I'm trying to convert the radio buttons on a search from to text links that perform the same function (like the search options on live.com or google.com).

Here's the original code:

if ($_GET['type']==""){$_1="checked";}
if ($_GET['type']=="web"){$_1="checked";}
if ($_GET['type']=="news"){$_2="checked";}
if ($_GET['type']=="images"){$_3="checked";}
if ($_GET['type']=="video"){$_4="checked";}

?><form method="GET">

<DIV id="searchBar2">
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0 width="90%" height="70">
  <TR>
    <TD align=center>

 <INPUT maxLength="200" size="40" name="search" value="<? echo $keywords;?>">  <INPUT type="submit" value=" Search "><BR>
 <DIV id="cat">
 <INPUT TYPE="radio" NAME="type" value="web"<? echo $_1;?>>Web
 <INPUT TYPE="radio" NAME="type" value="news"<? echo $_2;?>>News
 <INPUT TYPE="radio" NAME="type" value="images"<? echo $_3;?>>Images
 <INPUT TYPE="radio" NAME="type" value="video"<? echo $_4;?>>Videos

</div>

</TD>
  </TR>
</TABLE> 
</DIV>
     </form>

   <?php



if ($_GET['type']=="web"){include("includes/web.php");}
if ($_GET['type']=="news"){include("includes/news.php");}
if ($_GET['type']=="images"){include("includes/images.php");}
if ($_GET['type']=="video"){include("includes/video.php");}

?>

I've looked all over but have no idea on where to start...

Thanks in advance.

raustin

is this a job for javascript?

bradgrafelman

raustin;10879790 wrote:
is this a job for javascript?

Definitely. Examine Google's source code and you'll find this:

<a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl" onclick=gbar.qs(this) class=gb1>Maps</a>

(Notice the onclick attribute)

You could make this as simple as having a hidden form field that contains the type of search being performed, so that your "onclick" event would simply alter this hidden value (e.g. set it to "maps" or "images" or ...). Don't forget you might also want to code them as regular links (e.g. "search.php?type=maps") just in case a user's browser doesn't support Javascript.

raustin

thanks... i'll give it a shot

raustin

Getting closer, but i have 2 problems now:

There is no default value when someone first searches (initial search looks like this: '?search=keyword' when is should look like this: '?search=keyword&type=web'
Probably " if ($GET['type']==""){$1="checked";}" but i can;t figure out how to use this without the radio buttons.
If no term is entered and the user clicks one of the options, the first result looks like '?search=&type=news', which is fine, but searches from that page go nowhere '?search=keyword' which returns no results.

Here's where I'm at thus far:

 <?php
 error_reporting(0);

 $keywords = isset($_GET['search']) ? $_GET['search'] : '';
 $parsed_keywords = htmlspecialchars(chop($keywords));
 $prepared_keywords = str_replace(" ","+",chop($keywords));
 include("includes/pager_class.php");

 if ($_GET['type']==""){$_1="checked";}

?><form method="GET">

<DIV id="searchBar2">
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0 width="96%" height="70">
  <TR>
    <TD width="25%">
</TD>
    <TD width="50%" align=left>
    <a href="?search=<? echo $keywords;?>&type=web">Web</a> | <a href="?search=<? echo $keywords;?>&type=news">News</a> | <a href="?search=<? echo $keywords;?>&type=images">Images</a> | <a href="?search=<? echo $keywords;?>&type=videos">Videos</a><br>
      <INPUT maxLength="200" size="40" class="sbox" name="search" value="<? echo $keywords;?>">  <INPUT type="submit" value=" Search ">
       </TD>
    <TD width="25%">&nbsp;</TD>
  </TR>
</TABLE> 
</DIV>
     </form>

   <?php

if ($_GET['type']=="web"){include("includes/web_search_class.php");}
if ($_GET['type']=="news"){include("includes/news_search_class.php");}
if ($_GET['type']=="images"){include("includes/images_search_class.php");}
if ($_GET['type']=="video"){include("includes/video_search_class.php");}

?>

Help?